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Cultural Focus

Hi all…here’s a look back at some fun projects that I didn’t get a chance to share with you this past fall.

Kindergarten Mr. Mondrians!

Giant Georgetown Turkey. Gobble Gobble.

Kinders – puttin’ a little glaze on their clay tree ornaments.

Fourth Grade Calder sculptures

What’s coming up in 2017? Grades 2-5 are really, really, really excited to start their clay projects when we return from break. Kinders and Firsties will be learning about color and doing some interesting color experiments and projects. And everyone will be exploring this year’s Cultural Focus: Africa.

Fifth Grade artists learned about the ancient kingdom of Chancay, a Pre-Columbian civilization located along the coast of Peru. Our artists created model magic figurines that were inspired by the ceramics made by the Chancay people.

Clay idol from the Chancay culture.

They began with “thumbnail” sketches in their sketchbooks.

Creating the background – a bit of recycle art with cardboard and some awesome texture made from a donation of window shade samples.

Creating and painting the Chancay figures using Model Magic. Students recalled our earlier color unit and talked about Earth tones and neutral colors.

Finished pieces. Aren’t they wonderful?

Michigan Visual Arts Standards:

Compare and contrast works of art as belonging to particular cultures, times, and places.

Demonstrate how history, culture, and the visual arts interrelate in making and studying works of art.

What’s a Koru? Ask a Georgetown second grade artist! They will explain that a Koru is a New Zealand Maori word that means “loop”. A koru looks like a fern frond or a spiral, and to the New Zealand Maori people the koru represents life, growth, strength, and peace.

Second grade artists drew these beautiful korus with a marker and finished them with carefully blended oil pastels.